Dr. Paul Leeson is a medicinal chemistry and drug discovery consultant with >35 years’ experience in major pharmaceutical companies: Smith Kline and French, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Wyeth (USA), AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline. Since 2014 he has advised pharmaceutical companies, start-ups, and academia. At AstraZeneca (1997-2011) Paul was head of medicinal chemistry at the Charnwood site, and as leader of the Global Chemistry Forum he was responsible for the company’s chemistry strategy. Paul’s drug discovery contributions have been in the cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory and inflammation therapy areas. He has a special interest in compound quality, for which he received the Nauta Award from the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry in 2014. Paul has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and holds an honorary professorship at the University of Nottingham.